Book match



July 23, 1929. w. E. WILLIAMS BOOK lwrca Filed Feb. 29, 1928,

Patented July 23, 1929.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM EBASTUS WILLIAMS, OF PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA.

BOOK MATCH.

Application filed February 29, 1928.

My invention relates tov matches that are put up in the form of little books and the sticks are made in little cards, as it were, severed down for individual sticks but leaving a part of the card intact at the base by means of which the matches are held in book form by having applied to the base of the cards a cover folded over at the end and with an outer flap or end turned over and tucked in covering the matches.

My invention especially relates to this type of a match which is made of wood veneer as compared with matches which are made of cardboard.

The object of my invention is to so form match cards for a match book and bind them together in the book in a manner that will produce a book of matches of wood veneer that will be as secure as the same kind of matches made of cardboard as relates to breaking off only one match at a time from the base part of the card.

Book matches heretofore made of wooden match cards have been objected to from the standpoint that the books are bound together by being wire stitched and the wire stitching does not and may not be economically made to cover over the whole base of the match card and thus as a single match is broken off by the user, it frequently happens he breaks off more than one at a time making the matches made of veneer not so desirable by the user as those made of carboard since the connected base of the card does not split off when one match is detached from the card board base.

A further object of my invention is to so form a book match that it may be made with automatic machinery with a greater percentage of complete finished books in a given operation of an automatic book match making machine. For illustration: in an automatic machine which makes matches and the books as well, as I have shown by my prior application Serial No. 211,108, filed August 6, 1927, it is extremely desirable that every feature of security in making complete books be obtained in order not to clog the machine or produce excessive Waste and in this invention I have provided a form of a book which yields to the. service of an automatic machine with a greater average net result of complete books than is otherwise possible by old systems of forming book matches by machinery.

Reference will be had to the accompanying Serial No. 257,883.

drawings in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a completed book of matches.

Fig. 2 shows the first step in the formation of my book being a plan of a book cover on its first treatment preparatory to being formed into a book of matches.

Fig. 3 shows the second step.

Fig. 4 is the side elevation of a completed book before the cover is turned over and tucked in.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through the base of the match book.

In the drawing 1 indicates an ordinary match book cover in the flat and I have applied an adhesive 2 to the base of the cover whereat the match cards are embraced. he match *ards made of wood veneer or other suitable material are then applied on this adhesive 2 in the form indicated by Fig. 3, the base or connected portion of the cards being indicated by 3 and these base pieces of the cards are firmly pressed onto the adhesive spot 2 of Fig. 2 and then there is applied onto the base of the cards adhesive material indicated by 4 and then the lower card and the end of the cover are ,turned'over to the form shown in Fig. 4 and thus bring the adhesive material 4 on the base of the match cards together and the book is then firmly pressed to the form of that shown by Fig. 4; and in this position the wire stitch 5 is driven through binding the parts together. Thus, the match cards are firmly secured to the cover and to each other by the adhesive and also by stitching, thus insuring a complete union of the base to such an extent that a single match even though of brittle wood veneer may be broken off without danger of splitting off more than one match or those matches desired to be broken off at a single interval by the user.

As a general statement. in wire stitching of articles there are faults in stitching 'occasioned by little faults in the cutters or the wires not being straight or the cutters get dull. Thus, in an automatic machine wherein the books are held together only by wire stitching when the stitching is at fault a lot of waste is made, particularly with a book making machine of high capacity whereas with the adhesive there is less danger of the adhesive being at fault than there is the accidental failures of the service of the wire stitching and even though the stitching might fail the adhesive would hold the books toquality does to a some extent prevent the binding together of the book when you rely only on the adhesive, yet withal, an adhesive of a quality may be had that will insure very high percentage of complete success in holding the books together and delivering the closed book in form from the automatic machine but even though the adhesive does that there is still an additional feature of uncertainty as to the strength of the glued parts when this gluing is held together by pressure only during the passage through the automatic book making machine.

iVhile the book may hold together and be delivered in a finished package relying only on the adhesive and may as a general rule serve the consumer entirely satishictorily without the wire stitch, yet in many instances, when the operator breaks oil? the matches, he may pry hard enough to separate a poorly adhered book but when the stitching is combined with the adhesive the stitch serves to hold the adhesive together in form, longer than the time required in the passage of the automatic machine and thus insure a complete hard setting of the adhesive which brings about an entirely commercial successful result since the cardboard nature of the cover then prevents'the splitting of the grain of the wood of the wood sticks and makes a more desirable book than is otherwise possible to make.

It is extremely desirable to furnish m atchcs made of wood sticks in place of the cardboard sticks due to the fact that the cardboard match sticks having a great absorbing and capillary power for holding and yielding up the paratiine burning material in which the match sticks are dipped. are a greater fire hazard than are the wood sticks since a fibre acts like a candle wick and continues to burn many times as the user throws down the lighted stick whereas with the wood stick there is less danger of fire hazard than with the cardboard stick since the wick eilect of the wood stick is not as great as with the cardboard stick.

However, owing to this feature of splitting oii' more than one match at a time by the user has operated against the service of the wood stick book match and in favor of tne cardboard match at enormous fire losses as anyone may readily learn who makes inquiry in this manner.

Thus the means which permits the wooden stick to be made as comn'iercially cheap by automatic machinery and as secure and convenient for the user as the cardboard match is a great desideratum and accomplished only in so far as I know by my invention as here shown.

hat I claim is:

1. A book match comprising a plurality of units made of wooden material and slit for a portion. of their length only to define separate match sticks and leaving the bases of continuous undivided formation, said units being secured together at the bases thereoi by con tinuous layers of adhesive material, securing the abutting faces of the bases and a cover surrounding the base portions oi the units and adhesively secured to the outer faces thereof whereby to avoid splitting oil said bases upon the breaking of a match therefrom.

2. A book match of the character herein described, comprising a plurality of units of wooden veneer slit longitudinally for a portion only of the length thereof to form separated match sticks and leaving a substantially continuous and intact base, said. units secured together at their bases by adhesive material, binding the bases from end to end an d a cover surrounding the bases of the units and secured thereto, and a stitching compacting the cover and the bases and tending to further prevent separation of said bases.

Signed at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois this 25th day of Februarv, 1928.

l/VILLIAM ERASTUS WILLIAMS. 

